The area was a stronghold for Christianity in Egypt until the Islamic era, though most of the current buildings of the churches in Coptic Cairo were built after the Muslim conquest. of Egypt.[2] The Ben Ezra Synagogue is also located here.[3]

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History

There is evidence of settlement in the area as early as the 6th century BC. Later the Romans, recognising the strategic importance of the area, built the Babylon Fortress in the area.[4] The area was at the time at the mouth of an ancient canal that once connected the Nile to the Red Sea.[5]

In the 11th Century AD, Coptic Cairo hosted the the Coptic Orthodox Pope of Alexandria, which is historically based in Alexandria, Egypt. As the ruling powers moved from Alexandria to Cairo after the Arab invasion of Egypt during Pope Christodolos's tenure, Cairo became the fixed and official residence of the Coptic Pope at the Hanging Church in Coptic Cairo in 1047.

The Coptic Museum was built in the area in 1910[7] and it houses the world's most important examples of Coptic art.[8]